BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY,
Saturday, January 25, 2020—Millionaire-in-waiting Smalltownthrowdown (Dan Dube,
$28.20) parlayed from the pocket Saturday night (Jan. 25th), winning
Yonkers Raceway’s $40,000 Open Handicap Trot.
In the game from
assigned post position No. 3, Smalltownthrowdown sat behind Now’s the Moment
(Jason Bartlett as that one made the lead before a :27.4 opening quarter-mile
and after a nasty break by Yes (Brent Holland).
It was between a
:58.1 intermission and 1:27 three-quarters when 7-10 favorite Melady’s Monet
(George Brennan) commenced and concluded a weak, first-over bid. With the fave
done, Now’s the Moment opened a pair of lengths in and out of the final turn.
However, he couldn’t close the sale as Smalltownthrowdown edged out and by.
The final margin
was a length-and-a-quarter in a season’s-best 1:56, with eight-holer Swansea
(Austin Siegelman) closing for third. Melady’s Monet and Lean Hanover (Jim
Marohn Jr.) settled for the minors.
For fifth choice Smalltownthrowdown, a 7-year-old statebred
Cash Hall gelding co-owned (as Allard Racing) by (trainer) Rene Allard, Yves
Sarazin, VIP Internet Stable and Bruce Soulsby, it was his second win in three
seasonal starts (career 28-for-85, $998,223). The exacta paid $142.50, the
triple returned $947 and the superfecta paid $3,015.
Allard didn’t do much wrong, winning with four of his six
Saturday starters.
The week’s marquee pace, a $35,000 Preferred Handicap Pace,
was won by a down-the-road (:27.3, :57.3, 1:25.2, 1:53.2) Tookadiveoffdipper
(Jordan Stratton, $16).
